Day XIII

Dahlia.

After hours lost, the braver of the two broke the silence. "What of Kaysho?" Nabooru asked, in a calm, low voice.

Ganondorf paused, taking a deep breath of the night air, "…Nef—your mother…she did the best she could…but I'll just have to wait to see…see if he'll last the night." He frowned, and closed his eyes.

Nabooru stared out at the sky for a minute longer, then looked back over at him, "It's a warm night."
He opened his eyes suddenly, and looked up at her. A small smile grew on his face, a sad smile, but never-the-less a smile it was. "…Yea…a warm night." The smile faded some after and he let his eyes start to sink, but didn't allow them to close.

Nabooru turned back to the star-scattered sky, and sighed. "…I'm sorry. About her, that is."

Ganondorf blinked, "…What do you mean?"

"The way she acts." Nabooru said simply, then let her legs hang over the edge of the building "…She hates you."

"Hates me?" He paused, then sat up, and almost chuckled, "How could she hate me? We've barely even met…I don't think you'd even call that meeting…"

"She hates you for merely existing." Nabooru said coldly, and that silenced him. She hesitated, then continued quietly, "She hates you…for being born. If you hadn't been born, then I would have been heir to the throne. We're of noble blood…next in the bloodline. But then Ganondorf, a boy, came along. And everything she'd hoped I'd become blew away…like a flower in the desert." Nabooru finished with a strait face.

Ganondorf stared at her a little, then looked down a the rooftop. "…Heh…" Strangely, he felt a smirk come to his lips, and from his voice, which had grown exceptionally masculine during the last few years, came a soft laugh. "…Ha…But does the dahlia even want to be Queen?" He asked, his barely above a whisper.

"Dahlia?" Nabooru repeated, then a moment later, she seemed not able to force a little smile away from her lips, "….No…she doesn't. …But that doesn't matter, her mother's opinion isn't wavered by that. To my mother…" She smirked a little, "They choose a little Prince over the rightful Queen."

He smirked, then looked down at himself, "…I didn't want to be chosen."

"I know." Nabooru answered at once. He looked at her as if to ask how she knew, then she looked back at him, "…I know because of your eyes."

"My eyes…?"

"Yea." Nabooru smirked haughtily, "You don't see what other people see…you don't see the sand, you don't see the rocks…you don't see the red. When you look at blood, you don't see red….instead, you see the pain…you see the malice. And you see Kaysho." Her smirk faded, and she stared back up at the Milky Way, "That's what makes you special."
Ganondorf stared at her, then slowly made sense out of her wise words. He looked down, and smiled, "When I see Kaysho…I see innocence." Directly after he said this came a long since, in which he hung his head. A single droplet fell onto the rooftop below him. "Blood-stained innocence."

Nabooru stared at him, though she could not see his face very well. Still, she marveled that, unlike any other person she'd ever met in that vast desert, when he cried, he did not hide his face. It seemed he tried to stop at first, then gave up the futile attempt and leaned forward, and wept. His body cowered forward so that his face touched the dirty roof.

"…Kaysho!" he wailed quietly, then put his hands on top of his head; to hide himself from his own shame, and to pull at his hair. He burrowed deeper into himself, and Nabooru stared still at the feeble man in front of her. She sighed, then rose to her knees. Gently, Nabooru reached down and took his face, then forced him to look up at her. "…Nabooru…?" He seemed to gasp between sobs, and stared up at her, confused and surprised.

"Come now, Sit up." Nabooru said calmly, and pulled his head a little closer to her, "Don't wallow in the dirt of the earth."

Staring still, he sniffled, then weakly and obediently nodded and rose back up, now sitting down and leaning forward towards her.

She stared down at his tear-stricken face, then enclosed his head with both arms to her stomach, a small embrace. He seemed surprised, but accepted it. He leaned on her and offered his tears, and softly she spoke to him, "You can cry tonight…just for tonight. But when the sun rises, you must be a man. Tomorrow, you must not cry, and be a man."

"…dahlia…" Ganondorf quietly whimpered in between his sobbings, then buried his head in Nabooru's hold.

After merely an hour, Ganondorf's tears ceased to flow, partially because there was nothing in his blood left to make the tears, and slowly he sat back upright and calmed down. He childishly wiped the tears from one check, and then the other. But no matter how much he brushed the moisture away, the red under his eyes would still remain, and he'd still find himself sniffling every couple minutes. But gradually less and less, until he breathed normally again, and the red beneath his eyes started to fade away into the dawn. Slowly, he looked over to Nabooru, then away again in embarrassment.

She noticed without even turning to glance at him. "I won't tell anyone." She said calmly, "The sun hasn't risen yet…the shadows kept you safe."

"…Thank you." He whispered, and absent-mindedly rubbed his eyes again; one, then the other.

Nabooru didn't reply. Even the concept of giving thanks was foreign to her, but then, many Gerudo felt they had little to give thanks for. Instead, she looked over at him and commented, "…What happened to Kaysho and you? And those bandages…they're falling off."

"Hm?" He looked at his arms, and behold, the bandages he'd wrapped around his flesh with little care were falling off, exposing the bloody wounds. But he couldn't worry about those now. All he could worry about was Kaysho. "What happened…? Heh…you wouldn't believe me."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows inquiringly , "…Tell me." Again he hesitated, so she persisted, "Tell me what you cry so much for."

At those words, he slowly sighed, then obediently nodded, "Alright. …Only for Dahlia." Nabooru gave him a strange look upon him calling her that again. She might have asked why he did, if he hadn't already started telling her of the night's events. "Kaysho…something attacked him, in the Spirit Temple."

"In the Temple? Impossible." Nabooru cut in.

"It's no temple." He replied spitefully, "There's something…something weird about that place. Oh, but Kaysho, it was horrible…"

Nabooru waited quietly, with a small frown forming on her lips.

"It…" He tried to explain, "…a spirit! It was a horrible spirit! From Hell! Whatever it was, it scarred Kaysho to death…blood, water everywhere…" Ganondorf stared into nothing, the images returning to his spectra.

Are you the one who I'll paint in blood, little Keaton?

Look at me. Look at me!

"A lie?

I tell no lies."

"Of hell and earth there is no dividing wall."

Because while you fly, horrible things happen on the earth below you.

The evils of Babylon scorch the earth.

Do you know why, O Kaysho?

Rise, Fly, Kill, then Perish, O Kaysho.

For you shall destroy the world.

He looked over at her again…for a long time. Then from his lips came a story, a recalling. The recalling was sure to be uttered again someday, and it would someday be called this: The Birth of the Beast out of the Sea.

Nabooru stared at Ganondorf, not even sure if she could believe his outstanding tale. True, she knew spirits and night-friends to exist, but she'd never actually encountered one. But slowly as she stared, she focused into his young face…and his eyes, vivid and strong. "I don't know what's going on…" Nabooru finally said, "But I believe you."

"…Really?" Ganondorf asked carefully.

"Yes." She replied, "You don't seem the type to lie…especially when it pertains to Kaysho." She raised an eyebrow at him, but at the same time smiled.

He looked down at the earth, and couldn't stop himself from smiling in return. With a nod, he formed the words, "…That is…thanks again. Thank you, Nabooru…" The smile grew, and he turned to her and offered her his rare, charming smile. In the light of the rising sun, and the sights of the morning and all else, his beaming smile was an offer so rare and wonderful that it paid for all Nabooru had done. Paid in full, he could only proclaim in awe, "My Dahlia."

O, My Dahlia!